Peter Molyneaux (1882-1953), journalist, editor, publisher, and economist, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He removed himself from schooling at the age of 15, and in 1902 became a reporter for the New Orleans Daily News . While living in New Orleans he also wrote for the Item and the Daily States . In 1906 Molyneaux married Etna Ester Ellzey, and in 1908 they moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania, so he could attend Theological School, where he focused on economics, philosophy, and sociology. During his time in Pennsylvania, he wrote for the Philadelphia Record, but soon moved to Texas where he worked for the Houston Post and, in 1913, the San Antonio Express . A supporter of women’s suffrage as well as mandatory education, Molyneaux began publishing the Texas Club Woman in 1914 with his friend and associate Anna Pennybacker.
Content in Texas, Molyneaux worked for the Houston Post once more, 1914-1915, before becoming chief editorial writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a position he held until 1924. He then moved to the Texas Monthly, based in Dallas, and was editor of this publication by 1928. The Texas Monthly became the Texas Weekly, and then the Southern Weekly, but Molyneaux remained in its employment for the rest of his life. He was also known for his involvement in the publishing and editing of Southwestern Banking and Industry (later Southwestern Banker ), Taxpayer’s Digest ( Tax Digest ), and for his work with the Wortham-Molyneaux Publishing Company as well as the Molyneaux-Lewis Publishing Company.
Molyneaux was the author of two books, The Romantic Story of Texas (1936) and The South’s Political Plight (1947), as well as a number of pamphlets on economics. Furthermore, he was a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a member of the Southwest Economic Bureau, the Philosophical Society of Texas, and the Southwestern Social Science Association. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University in 1935, and died of cancer in 1953.
Source : Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. Molyneaux, Peter, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/fmo5.html (accessed June 24, 2010).
From the guide to the Molyneaux, Peter Papers 62-092; 69-109; 70-034., 1910-1953, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
